Isadore Hall Announces Intention To Run For Congress

Assemblymember Isadore hall has announced his
intention to run for a South LA Congressional seat

The decennial redistricting will lead to a lot of turnover of the California congressional delegation, especially since a non-partisan commission is drawing the boundaries of every congressional and state legislative district in the state. This means that every current officeholder will be running in a brand new district. Many ambitious politicians will seize this opportunity to run for higher offices.

One such politician is Assemblymember Isadore Hall III, an African-American pastor who represents the 52nd Assembly District which includes part of North Long Beach and all of Compton. Hall recently announced his intention to run for a new Congressional district which is intended to be "majority-minority." There are currently 4 Black members in the 53-member Congressional delegation, all women: Maxine Waters (CA-35), Karen Bass (CA-33), Laura Richardson (CA-37) and Barbara Lee (CA-09). The district that Hall is eyeing would probably be one that Waters would be expected to run in, unless the 72-year-old Congresswoman decides to retire instead.

Hall's staff sent out a press release about his political intentions:

Compton, California – California State Assemblymember Isadore Hall announced his campaign for Congress today. Hall intends to run in a new Congressional District, which according to the first draft of maps released by the California Citizens Redistricting Committee on June 10th, might include the cities of Compton, Carson, Lynwood, Hawthorne, Gardena, Lawndale, portions of the City of Los Angeles and Unincorporated Los Angeles County.  

“As a local School Board Member, Councilmember and Assemblymember, I have worked tirelessly to make a difference in this community,” said Hall. “Our district needs a representative that will fight cuts to education and gang prevention programs, protect critical frontline services, and partner with President Obama to create family wage jobs.” 
“I have spent the past few days talking with friends and community leaders about running for this new seat,” Hall added.  “The response has been overwhelming and I am energized by the grassroots support we have already received.”

Hall is a former two term President of the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees. He was elected to the Compton City Council in 2003 where he served in various leadership positions including Mayor pro Tempore.  Hall was elected to the California State Assembly in 2008 and served as Assistant Speaker pro Tempore during his first term. He currently serves as a member of the Appropriations, Elections and Redistricting and Human Services Committees. He chairs the Assembly Committee on Government Organization.
The youngest of six children, Hall was born and raised in the City of Compton. Hall holds a bachelors degree in Business Administration, a Masters Degree in Management and Leadership from the University of Southern California, a Masters Degree in Public Administration from National University and will be conveyed his Ph.D. from Next Dimension Bible College later this summer.

No incumbent member of Congress currently lives in the proposed Congressional District; however, Hall will not seek election to Congress in the event that Congresswoman Maxine Waters seeks to represent the new district.

I'm pretty confident that this will be the first of a lot of similar announcements.

CA-33: Bass Gets Big $$ Rival and Big Endorsements

Former Speaker of the California Assembly Karen Bass received endorsements from Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in her recently announced attempt to represent the 33rd Congressional District of California, which Diane Watson represented for over a decade.
The endorsement by Rep. Waters is noteworthy, because it signals a unanimous blessing of the entire Black political establishment of Los Angeles, which has rarely been united behind single candidates in electoral races.

In addition to receiving important endorsements, Bass received unwelcome news in the form of a well-funded, independently wealthy challenger for the Democratic nomination for CA-33: Dr. Howard Mandell, who announced his candidacy and transferred $500,000 into his candidate account. MadProfessah has endorsed Karen Bass for the 33rd District and will be watching developments in this race more closely.

In other, less local news, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made waves by announcing his run for Lieutenant Governor, about five months after he suddenly dropped out of the race for the top job. His entry will complicate the race for the previously announced candidates Los Angeles City Councilperson Janice Hahn and Dean Florez, the latter of whom immediately dropped out. MadProfessah has not (yet) made an endorsement in this race.

Saturday Politics: Ward's Internal Poll Shows Lead in AD-53

Mitch Ward released an internal poll showing him with a lead over the other candidates in the race to replace Assembymember Ted Lieu in the 53rd district. According to the telephone poll of 400 likely June 2010 Democratic primary voters between February 23-25, Ward was supported by 13%, James Lau 4%, Kate Anderson 4%, Betsy Butler 3% with "lower amounts for other candidates."

Considering that the poll has a margin of error of +/- 5 points, these results are not that unusual for 3 months before a low-profile election. But, wait, there's more!

According to the memo prepared by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, after voters learn more information about the candidates after being read "detailed and fair paragraphs" Ward takes a lead of 32% with all the other candidates garnering no more than 9% each.

The memo attempts to explain Mitch Ward's lead by showing that voters preferred a qualified candidate from the South Bay to a qualified candidate from the Venice and Marina del Rey area by a margin of 40% to 26%. Mitch Ward is the current Mayor of Manhattan Beach, and is the only major candidate whose political base is South of Los Angeles Airport. The memo goes on to note that two of the last three people to represent the district not only had race in common (Ted Lieu and George Nakano are both Asian American), but they were also both from the South Bay.

I guess we'll find out on June 8, 2010. MadProfessah has endorsed Mitch Ward, who if elected would become the first openly gay, African American person ever elected to the California legislature and the 3rd Black LGBT person to be elected to a state legislature, ever.

Rep. Maxine Waters Co-sponsors UAFA!

Great news on the LGBT immigration front: key Congresswoman Maxine Waters has agreed to co-sponsor the Uniting All Families Act (H.R. 1024)!

According to Rod 2.0:

The ]Los Angeles] California Democrat becomes the 121st House member to cosponsor, reports Immigration Equality. "Waters sits on the House Judiciary Committee and its Immigration Subcommittee. She brings the number of Democrats on the Immigration Subcommittee who are current UAFA cosponsors to seven out of ten, and the number of Demorcrats on the full Judiciary Committee to 18 out of 24. UAFA has more cosponsors in the House than any other piece of immigration legislation."

Reminder: MadProfessah sits on the board of directors of Immigration Equality. I commend Congresswoman Waters for taking a meaningful step towards supporting equality for all people. Our nation's immigration laws are based on the principal of uniting families, and I'm pleased that she agrees that should include same-sex couples like Shirley Tan and Jay Mercado and thousands of others in similar situations in the United States.

YOU can look at the ActOnPrinciples banner on this blog to contact your congressperson on UAFA and other LGBT related legislation.

SD-26: Curren Price Winning Endorsements Battle

Assemblymember Curren Price has been racking up the endorsements in his attempt to replace Mark Ridley-Thomas in the 26th District of the State Senate in a special election to be held March 24th, 2009.

MadProfessah has been carefully monitoring the race between two African American elected officials to replace a pro-LGBT equality politician. Price's opponent is Assemblymember Mike Davis who has previously refused to support pro-LGBT legislation.

The statewide LGBT lobbying group Equality California Political Action Committee endorsed Price last week.

In both 2007 and 2008, Price received a 100 percent score on the Equality California scorecard. In 2007 he voted for the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would have allowed same-sex couples to marry in California. This year, he is a co-author of HR 5, a resolution in the State Assembly urging that Proposition 8, which amended the Constitution to eliminate the right to marry for same-sex couples, be invalidated.

"I am proud to have the support of Equality California and its members for my campaign for State Senate," said Assembly Member Price. "EQCA members are on the front lines fighting for civil rights and equal rights for all people, but they are, most importantly, a powerful voice for justice on one issue we should all agree upon: full equality under our state's Constitution and its laws for members of California's LGBT community."

[...]

The 26th Senate District includes the cities of Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Vista, Beverlywood, Carthay Circle, Century City, the Crenshaw District, Culver City, Hancock Park, Hollywood, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, Ladera Heights, Lafayette Square, Larchmont, Leimert Park, Los Feliz, Miracle Mile, South Central Los Angeles, View Park, West Los Angeles and Windsor Hills, among others.

In addition, this week Price was endorsed by Senate Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg, the head of the State Senate and one of the most powerful politicians in California. Previously Price was endorsed by both Service Employees International Union and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Davis has been endorsed by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (what was she thinking?)

MadProfessah has endorsed Curren Price.